Does a prophet have to be perfect?

We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net

Prophets have made serious mistakes

We, fallible humans, have our own standards and we smugly judge people either to be right or wrong.

Then God has His standards whereby He judges all of us humans to be wrong.

No human being can ever measure up to God’s standards. Not even angels can do that.

As we track down genuine prophets in the Bible we will come across a prophet who committed murder and adultery.

Three prophets lied.  A prophet seriously doubted that Jesus was the Messiah.

Two prophets gave personal advice or opinions that were dangerously wrong.

A prophet deliberately contradicted God’s Word.

A prophet thought that another prophet was allowed to contradict God’s Word.

A prophet worshipped an angel and then worshipped another prophet.

A prophet accompanied a group of people moving down to Egypt when he knew that they were deliberately moving away from God’s will as that prophet had told them not to go to Egypt.

A prophet who was powerfully moved by God’s Spirit went in protest and bitterness.

A prophet refused to go where God told him to go and was extremely angry and upset when God’s Will finally came to pass.

A prophet disobeyed God due to the pressures of rebellious people and was severely punished for doing so.

A prophet was completely fooled and failed to carry out God’s Word when bad guys disguised themselves.

A powerful prophet ran for his life because of his fear of a woman.

All these men messed up badly. But all these men were prophets.

So if you demand that a prophet must be blameless then you are far removed from reality and simply living in a  world of your own making. A world of delusions.

Welcome to planet Earth. Far from perfect. Very messy but still the only planet to live on. Please remember that only God is perfect.

Please notice that there is no difference here between "major" or "minor" prophets. Have a look at the long list of prophets below, most of which can be viewed as "major" prophets.

Job and Isaiah state that all humans are sinful

1. Job

JOB 15:15

Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

JOB 4:18

Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

Job includes himself in these statements.  So even the best of us humans cannot impress God.

JOB 19:25

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

:26   And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

So Job qualified as a prophet by his ability to predict the resurrection.

2. Isaiah

ISAIAH 64:6

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Isaiah the great prophet includes himself in this statement that stresses the weakness of our human flesh. A reminder that we are born of sex, which was the original sin.  So in the flesh we will never amount to much.

Our only real success will be tapping into God’s Perfect Will. If He can use us in some way, however small, to fulfill His Big Picture then He will be happy with us, despite our frailties and limitations.

Despite his human limitations,  Isaiah’s  writings have magnificent depth and are interwoven with tremendous prophecies like the reference to the Day of Pentecost:

ISAIAH 28:11

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

He was weak as a human vessel but God still used him mightily.

Paul says all human flesh is worthless

3. Paul

ROMANS 3:10

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

:11     There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

:12     They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Paul is including himself in this statement which says that in our human flesh we are not worth much.

Yet he was a great prophet who revealed how the Lord will come with a shout, a voice, and a trump to raise up the dead and then change the living in a twinkling of an eye to catch us up to meet Him in the air.

I CORINTHIANS 15:52

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

I THESSALONIANS 4:16

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

:17    Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Thus, despite our imperfections, God still uses human beings to work out His Perfect Will.

Realizing that each of us is a flawed vessel should make us less judgemental towards another.

John the Revelator twice worshiped a prophet

4. John the Revelator

The Book of Revelation is prophecy at a sublime level. An angel came down to instruct the apostle, John. As a result of these visions, John can be numbered amongst the best of the prophets.

Yet he failed twice, in rapid succession, by worshipping this angel.

COLOSSIANS 2:18

Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

This warning from Paul meant that John should have known better.

However great a revelation we get from someone, never be tempted to worship that person. Only worship Jesus.

REVELATION 1:1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

REVELATION 19:10

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The Bible ends with the prophet John wanting to worship an angel.

It is a warning to us at the end time that this spirit will be around. Do not exalt some person.

So God uses John’s fault to warn us against the glorification of any person.

But this flaw does not in any way stop the unfolding of John’s prophecy. His vision moves on to Armageddon and the Lake of Fire which is the sad destination of the worshippers of the beast (unscriptural Catholicism that is based on paganism, politics, and Big Business demonology) and his image (Protestant denominations that copied the idea of the church obeying the commandments of a human head). There are thus serious consequences when people hero-worship a man and follow his advice instead of following Scripture.

REVELATION 22:8

And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.

:9   Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

John then repeats his mistake of worshiping a prophet despite his earlier rebuke. Yet it does not interfere with John's ability to reveal the last portion of his amazing prophecy. John is not disqualified as a prophet for making a serious mistake twice.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to bow down to the statue of a holy prophet, Daniel.

They preferred the fiery furnace in this life rather than the Lake of Fire in the next life.

So John’s mistake was not a good move on his part. The three Hebrews in Babylon had set a better example. John should have known better.

But God uses those two serious mistakes that John made as a warning to us. Do not worship a man. Do not worship a prophet. Do not worship an angel.

In the end-time, Satan will unleash a strong spirit of worshipping a man.

Do not fall for that delusion.

Also, do not disregard John as a prophet because he made two mistakes. Despite his lapses, everything he prophesied in the book of Revelation will come to pass.

What have we learned from this lesson?  Humans can mess up but God uses them anyway. So we must learn to separate truth from error (the Tree of Life is intertwined with the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil) and then discard only the error but hang onto the truth. Those who discard the truth because of the error, are like a doctor who kills his patient because the patient’s appendix was poisoned and corrupted. A good doctor carefully judges what is wrong and only cuts out the bad part. Once the wrong portion, the appendix, is removed then the patient recovers his health. To call the patient rotten just because his appendix was rotten is an exceptionally poor judgment.

Conclusion. John messed up twice as a human being, yet he was an amazing prophet. His prophecies were right up there with the best of them. And the fact that his prophecies have come to pass over the seven church ages and that his future prophecies concerning the Tribulation, the Millenium, and our future Eternal Home will also come exactly to pass is proof that he carried out his prophetic ministry exactly as God wanted him to. But he did make two serious mistakes. Agreed.  We do not attempt to deny that and we are not expected to cover up for him. That obviously means that he had some flaws as a human being. (Which simply means that he is human just like you and me.) Did it interfere with his ability to prophesy? No. Did it stop him from carrying out his prophetic ministry? No.

So we benefit from his prophecies and we also learn not to repeat his mistakes.

This gives us the responsibility of knowing the difference between truth and error.  Error is simply a deviation from Scripture. So we need to know the Scriptures in order to spot the deviations.

John the Baptist doubted that Jesus was the Messiah

5. Consider that great prophet John the Baptist.

He introduced the Messiah but when he was in prison his eagle eye faded, and he doubted if Jesus was really the Messiah. This was a serious mistake.

LUKE 7:19

And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?

:20   When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?

Jesus could have ripped into John and torn him to shreds. John had really messed up big time.

So,  did Jesus judge John by the very serious mistake he had made and disqualify him from being a prophet? Not at all.  Jesus gave John full credit for the Scriptural things that he had done. John had given up any personal ambitions and comforts and lived a harsh life in the tough wilderness in order to introduce Messiah.  Jesus had depended on John to identify Him and baptize Him. And God remembers everything we do for Him. So Jesus spoke incredibly highly of John’s rugged willingness to fulfill the prophecies that referred to John’s ministry.

Then how did Jesus deal with John’s massive mistake?

With an incredible sensitivity and gentleness, Jesus simply ignored John’s faults.

LUKE 7:24

And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

:26  But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.

:27  This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

Jesus ignored John’s mistakes and simply referred back to the Scriptures that John had fulfilled. By fulfilling Scripture, John had fitted into God’s Big Picture. He had moved with the invisible spiritual wave that flows unseen through our human existence and catches up certain people, the true believers, who are able to move with it. This wave always flows in a strictly Scriptural path. It can only move Bible believers. So John had fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies concerning his ministry. Jesus gave him high praise for that. The mistakes he made were not part of the prophecies. These were simply ignored and he was praised for the fulfillment of the Scriptures that applied to him.

LUKE 7 :28  

For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Conclusion:  the most important thing we can do today is to fulfill the Scriptures that refer to the end time. The Bible plan is God’s Big Picture. Our lives must flow with God’s unseen Spirit that is revealing how the church lost Truth in the Dark Ages and then began to be restored to the Bible plan so that the unseen flow of the Spirit is now taking true believers back to the New Testament, back to the Book of Acts.

The apostle Peter shunned the Gentiles

6. Simon Peter

He happily ate with Gentile converts but then was scared of offending the Jews who came to visit him so he decided he must shun the Gentiles at mealtimes. He thought that would keep the Jews happy.  He was completely wrong. He was trying to live by other peoples’ beliefs.   Paul corrected him.

Peter’s personal opinion in that matter was completely wrong,

GALATIANS 2:11

But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

:12   For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

Conclusion: Just preach Scripture. Don’t offer personal opinions on a topic.

Did that mistake disqualify Peter from being a prophet? No. Towards the end of his life, he made some spectacular prophecies concerning the end time.

II PETER 3:10

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

II PETER 3:3

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

:4   And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Conclusion:  a genuine prophet can offer the wrong personal advice.  So check everything to make sure it is Scriptural.

Nathan and two other prophets got it wrong

7. Nathan the Prophet

II SAMUEL 7:1

And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;

:2   That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.

:3   And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee.

:4   And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying,

:5   Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?

II SAMUEL 7:12 

And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

:13   He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

Nathan the prophet gave David his personal opinion that David should build the Temple. This was the wrong advice. Solomon was the one who would build the Temple.

Conclusion:  The personal opinion of a prophet is of no real value and cannot be relied on.

8. An old prophet and another prophet

A prophet in Israel cried out against pagan worship in Bethel and was told by God not to eat or drink nor go back the way he had come.

I KINGS 13:32

For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

I KINGS 13:9

For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

:11   Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.

:13     And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,

:14     And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

:15     Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

:16     And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:

:17     For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.

:18     He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

:19   he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.

:20     And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:

:21     And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,

:22  But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

:23   And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

:24     And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.

The one prophet disobeyed God and died.  So a prophet can disobey God.

He believed that the older prophet, being a prophet, could contradict God’s Word. That mistake cost him his life.

The old prophet told a lie.

Conclusion: Never disobey God’s Word. If a prophet says something different to God’s Word, do not listen to or obey that prophet.  So prophets can get it very wrong. A prophet can lie. You must check with God’s Word, not just run after the word of a prophet.

Abraham twice denied that Sarah was his wife

9. Abraham lied by not saying that Sarah was his wife, although she was his half-sister, and thus almost caused her to be polluted by allowing another man to marry her

GENESIS 12:12

Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.

:13     Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.

:18     And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

:19     Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.

This was a very serious offense. Sarah was a vessel through which the Royal line of Messiah was to come. If she was polluted by the king of Egypt, God’s whole plan was in jeopardy.

Then Abraham told the same lie a second time by saying she was his half-sister but not stating that Sarah was his wife.

GENESIS 20:1

And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

:2     And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

:11     And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

Despite these serious mistakes, God told Abraham to offer up Isaac on the very mountain where the Temple was to be built. Then behind him, on Mount Calvary, Abraham saw the sacrifice that was to be offered in the place of Isaac. This was an amazing prediction of the death of Jesus.

So Abraham, despite abandoning his wife to another man in order to save his own life, was then used by God to preview the greatest sacrifice that would ever be made.

Joseph wanted his family to tell a lie

10. Joseph lied by telling his father and brothers not to say that they were shepherds

GENESIS 46:31

And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father's house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father's house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;

:32     And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.

:33     And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?

:34     That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

GENESIS 47:2

And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

:3     And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers

The brothers told the truth. Joseph had lied but he later still prophesied about the Jews being released from Egypt one day and he told them to take his bones back with them. By this act, he also prophesied about the resurrection that would happen after Jesus rose from the dead. He wanted his bones to be there where Jesus would rise from the dead.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Jonah

11. Jeremiah 

God told Jeremiah not to go down into Egypt. Yet he was persuaded to go down and thus disobeyed God and was not in God’s will.

JEREMIAH 42 :19

The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.

JEREMIAH 43:5

But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;

:6     Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.

:7     So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.

Jeremiah gave in to the popular will of the people and the forceful leadership of Johanan. He went out of the will of God but then gave an amazing prophecy about Babylon that it would not be rebuilt. Saddam Hussein tried to rebuild Babylon but the two Iraqi wars put a stop to him. Then Iraq started again to rebuild Babylon and suddenly the terror group  ISIS exploded on the scene and building stopped once again as all the money was diverted to the military to try to combat ISIS.

JEREMIAH 50:35

A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

:39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

Conclusion:  A prophet can be led astray by the pressure of people around him. A prophet can thus get out of the will of God and disobey God. Yet he remains a prophet that God can use.

12. Ezekiel

EZEKIEL 3:14

So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

God’s Perfect Will (His Big Picture) can be so different from our human will (our selfish-will or small picture) that when God forces a prophet to do something to accomplish God’s Perfect Will, the poor human prophet has a huge emotional resistance-barrier that he has to try to deal with.

13. Jonah

JONAH 1:1

Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

:2     Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

:3     But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

A prophet was told to go to Nineveh and he deliberately disobeyed and went off to sea.

JONAH 3:10

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

JONAH 4:1

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

(Assyrians were horribly cruel people. Jonah wanted them dead as a fitting punishment for their abominable cruelty)

Yet they listened to Jonah preach and repented. This upset him as he wanted this vicious city to be wiped out.

JONAH 4:8

And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

Emotionally Jonah was completely out of tune with God. He valued his own will (they must die and I must be comfortable in the shade) far more than he valued God’s Will which was the salvation of the heathen.

JONAH 4:11

And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

Conclusion: God used a rebellious and reluctant prophet to cause the greatest revival in the Old Testament.

We would reject Jonah as a man. He was very wrong in his thinking and his attitude. But in terms of his achievements he puts us all in the shade. Who else has ever turned an entire city of 120000 to repentance? He had no microphones, no big bands, and no huge stadium to help him. No organizing committee, no ushers. And Assyria was the most violent kingdom of them all. Their cruelty to their enemies was horrific. And Jonah had to face these human monsters alone. We see his faults which were many, but God saw his incredible courage.

The three days in the belly of the whale represented Christ's three days in the tomb.

After the resurrection, the Gospel left the Jews and went to the seven Gentile church ages.

Thus after his "resurrection", Jonah had to preach to the pagan Gentiles that no Jew liked.

MATTHEW 12:39   But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

:40   For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

:41   The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Jesus condemned the Jews of His days because the despised Gentiles in Jonah's day had repented. Thus Jesus turned to the Gentiles after His resurrection.

Lesson: Don’t spend too much time looking for faults in a prophet. The faults are there but God sees the achievements, not the mistakes. When a prophet, in whatever way, fulfills God’s Big Picture and causes God’s hidden Spiritual Plan to sweep on further like an invisible tsunami wave flowing through our complex human affairs, then God is happy with that prophet and ignores what he did wrong. Believers are attracted by the Scriptural bits that the prophet got right as it is only by moving with that part of the Scripture that fulfills our day, that we flow towards God.  Standing on the sidelines and finding fault where the prophet messed up does not get us anywhere.

Moses and Joshua

14. Moses

EXODUS 17:5

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

:6     Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

The Rock was Christ. He was struck dead at Calvary and out of His side flowed water, symbolic of the supernatural Life-giving Holy Spirit of God that was released at His death and flowed down into the church on the Day of Pentecost.

But then God’s plan is to make us struggle and endure hardship as well as being blessed. The people followed Moses happily when they were blessed but rebelled when the hardships started.

Then the people complained and accused Moses of being false and leading them into a dead-end in the desert wilderness.

"Chode" means "argued against him".

NUMBERS 20:3

And the people chode with Moses , and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!

And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?

There were too many difficulties for the Jews. They saw that as an evil place. No water in the desert.

The people said:

NUMBERS 20:5

And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.

Then God said:

:8     Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

NUMBERS 20:10

And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

:11   And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

Their rebellious, complaining attitude got to Moses. The previous time, he had to hit the rock. So instead of speaking, he hit it again. Typical humans, we all easily become entrenched in our past habits. Nothing happened, no water flowed because he had disobeyed God who told him to speak to the rock. Under pressure from the rebellious people he made a big mistake and hit the rock again. Water flowed. He had kept the people happy. But he had disobeyed God and was in serious trouble. His punishment was to not go into the promised land. Why?

NUMBERS 20:12

And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

The rock has been struck once before. That represented Christ crucified at Calvary. Then the New Testament started and all we are allowed to do now is to speak to the Bible with our requests and questions and then listen to the Scriptures as they speak back to us. If we can track an answer through the various Scriptures, then we know that God has spoken to us. Like the Urim and Thummin that was the 12 precious stones on Aaron’s breastplate that would light up with a holy fire if a true prophecy was spoken out in their presence.

Now Moses got emotionally tangled up by the rebellious opposition and instead of speaking to the Rock, he hit it twice. This symbolized Christ being crucified as a Man at Calvary and then Jesus, being the Word of God, got crucified again at the Nicaean Council in the year AD 325 when the Scripture was rejected and replaced with man-made creeds that enthroned the Trinity doctrine in the minds of men and women. The Roman Catholic church that produced this horrible religious-political-pagan marriage will never be allowed into Heaven. This was acted out in the life of Moses. He struck the rock twice which means he crucified Christ as a Man and as the Word of God. He thus played out the part of Rome. The pagan Romans crucified Christ and the Roman Catholic church crucified the Word at Nicaea where it was more important to believe what a man said rather than what the Bible says. So, like the Roman Catholic church, Moses was not allowed into the Promised Land (Heaven).

Conclusion: The greatest and most influential of prophets can disobey God and be influenced by people-pressure to act out the plan of the enemy. Prophets are intensely human and can be pressurized by human demands rather than obeying God, but they still are prophets.

You and I must sort out where they obey God and where they follow their own opinions. We must never follow a prophet’s opinions. We only listen to a prophet when he speaks or reveals God’s Word.

15. Joshua

JOSHUA 1:1

Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,

(“The Lord spake unto Joshua” is a phrase that is repeated about 13 times. Prophets hear from God. Joshua’s prophecies concerned the immediate future of Israel. They would conquer the whole of the Promised Land. No one would be able to withstand Joshua. He became one of history’s most successful generals as he never tasted defeat)

:2     Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

:3     Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

:4     From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

:5     There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Joshua had to kill off the evil inhabitants of the Promised Land. But he was fooled by some who put on old clothes and told him that they came from far away.

JOSHUA 9:3

And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

:4     They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

:5     And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.

:6     And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us

JOSHUA 9:14

And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.

:15And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.

So they fooled Joshua.

JOSHUA 10:12

Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

:13     And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

:14     And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel

Despite being fooled, Joshua went to their rescue when the Amorites attacked Gibeon and Joshua slew the Amorites and asked God to make the day longer so that they could complete the slaughter. The sun stood still and this incredible event is unparalleled in human history

David and Elijah

16. David

He committed adultery with a man’s wife and then had the husband killed to cover up the crime.

Can you get much worse than this?

But look at the quality of David’s prophecies. Despite his obvious flaws God used David to make some amazing prophecies about the crucifixion of Jesus and the Son of David is the title that Jesus will bear in the Millenium. The Star of David is the Jewish flag and today it is the flag that refers to a man who ruled further back in history than any other country's flag in the world.

David is mentioned about 930 times in the Bible, more than any other name. The last name mentioned in the last Chapter of the Bible, Revelation Chapter 22, is Jesus. The second to last name is David.

REVELATION 22:16

Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

REVELATION 22:21   The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

PSALM 22:1   A Psalm of David.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

(The cry of Jesus on the cross).

PSALM 22:16

For dogs

(Gentiles, Romans)

have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet

(the nails on the cross).

PSALM 22:18

They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

(Four Romans tore up His one garment into four pieces and the same Romans cast lots for His robe which they did not want to tear up).

PSALM 147:10

He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.

This is a remarkable prophecy. The antichrist in Revelation Chapter 6 would ride in on three different horses and finally merge the three together into a single pale, corpse-coloured horse. So a horse’s strength reflects the strength of the antichrist spirit. No wonder that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

The legs of Daniel’s Gentile image were made of iron and represented the East and West Roman empires. These became the feet where bits of iron (Roman Catholic denominationalism) intermingled with clay representing the true church. Plants can grow in clay. So the clay in the feet is the only part of the Gentile image that can produce life. The feet thus represent the 7 church ages. The evil in the church ages, the bits of iron, comes from the evil influence of the iron legs, the Roman empire with its Babylonian pagan mysteries and its killing of Christians as well as its Caesar-worship which was the elevation of a man above everyone else.

So the legs of a man represent the Roman pagan influence. God is thus not interested in a man’s legs. So it is better that men wear long pants.

The following Psalm prophesied of the resurrection and ascent to Heaven of the Old Testament saints when Jesus took them up to Heaven with Him.

PSALM 24:7

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

(shouted out by the Old Testament saints)

:8     Who is this King of glory?

(The angels who guard the gates of heaven always check before allowing anyone in)

The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

(reply the saints)

:9     Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

:10     Who is this King of glory?

(Angels check again. They are not slack like us humans who just assume things are right)

The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

(The saints reply again)

Heaven is secure because everything is carefully checked there.

PSALM 34:7

The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

This prophecy has protected you and me many times.

PSALM 40:7

Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 

The Bible has many prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus during His ministry on earth.

The main proof that Jesus is the Messiah is the fact that He fulfilled all the prophecies that were written about Him in the Bible.

PSALM 41:9

Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

Judas partook of the bread at the last supper and then went out to betray Jesus

PSALM 49:8

 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)

Jesus purchased our salvation once, on the cross. Then He said, “It is finished”.

PSALM 68:18

Thou hast ascended on high

(on the day of ascension),

thou hast led captivity captive

(taken all the Old Testament saints out of the Old Testament paradise where they were captive and taken them up to Heaven with Him.):

thou hast received gifts for men

(the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost to give spiritual gifts to people);

yea, for the rebellious also,

(God gives spiritual gifts to some people who rebel against Him. The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike)

 that the LORD God might dwell among them.

PSALM 69:21

They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

This happened to Jesus on the cross.

PSALM 118:22

The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

PSALM 110:4

The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek

PSALM 107:29

He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

This prophecy was beautifully fulfilled by Jesus about 1050 years later.

MARK 4:37

And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

:38    And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

:39     And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

17.   Elijah

When God's anointing was on him he faced down and mocked 850 prophets and then pulled down fire from the sky to burn up his water-soaked sacrifice. He then killed the 450 prophets who belonged to Baal. He closed the skies for three and a half years of drought and then prayed for rain, and it rained.

But when queen Jezebel sent him a threatening letter, because the anointing was off him, he ran for his life to escape from her.

Did his running away finish him in the eyes of God? No.

God later sent a chariot to take him up to Heaven.

Prophets were often weak in the flesh and make mistakes which is typical of human beings.

But they fulfilled the portion of Scripture that applied for their day. That was the key issue.

That’s what qualified them as prophets.

We have to learn to look past their mistakes and benefit from where they got it right.